Editorial Reviews

Anyone having to assemble a compilation of Malian music is faced with an embarrassment of riches. It's not what you put in, but what you have to leave out. There are very few missteps here -- no Super Rail Band, for instance, and the dubious inclusion of Keletigui Diabate's "Summertime in Bamako" (the standard "Summertime" played on balafon, although it does connect some dots between West African music and jazz). And though the late Ali Farka Touré doesn't get a solo cut, he's featured here with his son, on "Tabara," and with kora genius Toumani Diabaté on "Simbo," as well as being the subject of a song by his protégé Afel Bocoum. There's the full range of Malian music, with Habib Koité's accomplished but rooted Afro-pop sound on "Mali Ba," the rural Wassoulou female singing of the wonderful Oumou Sangare, the deep rough griott Kandia Kouyate (with a long, hypnotic guitar into from Djelimady Tounkara) and even nods to the future from Issa Bagaoyogo and the blind duo of Amadou & Mariam. The track from Les Ambassadeurs Internationales harks bark to the 1970s, when big bands were king (and sneaks in wonderful singer Salif Keita), while the venerable Boubacar Traore is a gloriously bluesy singer/songwriter. As a primer, it's great, an introduction to so many excellent artists, and gives a strong flavor of the country's musical geography. Chris Nickson, All Music Guide

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